Liquid detergent metering device



June 30, 1970 c. BIANCO LIQUID DETERGENT METERING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 18, 1968 ll/IAI/l/J/ June so, 1910 c, BMCQ 3,517,862

LIQUID DETERGENT METERING DEVICE Filed March 18, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I l 2 N United States Patent 3,517,862 LIQUID DETERGENT METERING DEVICE Carlo Bianco, 'hll'lll, Italy, assignor to Elbi S.a.s. dei Fratelli Bianco, Turin, Italy, an Italian body corporate Filed Mar. 18, 1968, Ser. No. 713,697 Claims priority, application Italy, Mar. 31, 1967, 122,959/ 67 Int. Cl. G01f 11/28 US. Cl. 222-440 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A device for metering detergent has a detergent inlet and outlet in standard positions and includes a variablevolume metering chamber, adjustment of which is eifected bv means accessible through the detergent inlet.

This invention relates to liquid detergent metering devices.

Metering devices for liquid detergent are commonly mounted on clothes and dish-washing machines. Such devices generally comprise a receptacle provided with an inlet for filling the receptacle with liquid detergent and an outlet communicating with the receptacle through a metering chamber within the receptacle.

In existing metering devices of the non-adjustable type the relative positions and the diameters of the liquid inlet and outlet are standardised so that metering devices made by different manufacturers can be mounted on one and the same type of washing machine.

Adjustable metering devices are also known. These are provided with an external control for varying the volume of the metering chamber. Washing machines to which such devices are fitted require special housings, which were heretofore provided by the machine manufacturers at various locations depending upon the structural characteristics of the machine, to permit access to the adjustment means of the metering devices.

These locations are generally relatively inaccessible by the operator of the machine, whereas the inlet for introducing the liquid detergent into the receptacle is always located in an accessible position.

An object of the present invention is to improve the accessibility to the operator of a control for effecting adjustment of an adjustable metering device.

A liquid detergent metering device according to the invention comprises a receptacle having an inlet for filling the receptacle and a discharge outlet communicating with the receptacle through a metering chamber within the receptacle and means for adjusting the volume of the metering chamber, said volume-adjusting means being accessible for adjustment through the detergent inlet of the receptacle.

The adjustable metering device of the invention can be assembled on washing machines of any type, including those which are adapted normally for the installation of non-adjustable metering devices. I

The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description, given by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a metering device according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view on line II-II of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view on line III-III of FIG. 2.

The metering device shown in the drawings comprises a receptacle 1 for a liquid detergent. On the bottom of the receptacle 1 a metering chamber 2 (see FIG. 3) is provided. The metering chamber 2 communicates with the receptacle 1 through a port 3 at one end of a passage 3,517,862 Patented June 30, 1970 20 and communicates with a discharge outlet 9 (FIG. 1) through a port 4 (FIG. 3) which is coaxial with the port 3 and located at the other end of the passage 20. Projecting from the top of the chamber 2 is the customary vent tube 19, open at its upper end to allow equalization of the pressures within the chamber 2 and the body of the receptacle 1. The chamber 2 has a movable wall in the form of a piston member 10 sealingly slidable in a compartment 11 formed in the bottom of the receptacle 1. The piston member 10 has a rack 12 fixed thereto. The rack 12 meshes with a pinion 13 rotation of which eflects adjustment of the position of the piston member 10 in order to vary the volume of the metering chamber 2. In the position shown in FIG. 3, the piston member 10 is at the end of its travel and the chamber 2 is correspondingly at its minimum volume. In this position the piston member closes the vent tube 19, but in all other positions which give the chamber 2 an increased volume, the tube 19 communicates with the interior of the chamber 2.

Flow through the ports 3 and 4 is controlled by respective valve members 7, 8 mounted on a movable armature 5 of a solenoid 6.

In the de-energized condition of the solenoid 6, the valve member 7 is spaced from the port 3, while the valve member 8 closes the port 4. In this position liquid detergent from the receptacle 1 fills the annular space in the passage 20 around the armature 5 and also fills the metering chamber 2, the piston member 10 being extended from the chamber 2 to allow communication between the chamber 2 and the receptacle 1 through the vent tube 19 for the filling operation. The detergent will thus rise in the tube 19 to substantially the same level as in the receptacle 1.

Upon energisation of the solenoid 6, the movable armature 5 is displaced and causes the valve member 7 to close the port 3, while spacing the valve member 8 from the port 4. In this position the liquid detergent in the passage 20, together with liquid in the metering chamber 2 above the vertical level of a lip 21 (FIG. 3) located where the chamber 2 and passage 20 join each other, is discharged through the outlet 9, the liquid in the receptacle 1 being prevented by the valve member 7 from flowing into the chamber 2. When, as shown in the drawings, the piston member 10 closes the vent tube 19 to define the minimum volume of the chamber 2, energization of the solenoid 6 causes discharge of only that liquid contained in the passage 20, this volume of liquid being predetermined as the minimum required for any washing operation. The volume of the chamber 2 below the vertical level of the lip 21 is always a dead space in the sense that liquid in this space remains in the metering chamber 2 even during discharge.

An inlet 14 (FIG. 1) is situated in the top of the receptacle 1 for introducing the liquid detergent. As stated previously, the relative positions of the outlet 9 and the inlet 14, as well as the diameters thereof, are standardised.

The pinion 13 which effects adjustment of the volume of the metering chamber 2 is mounted within the receptacle 1 for rotation about its axis, which is aligned with the axis of the inlet 14.

The side of the pinion 13 facing towards the inlet 14 is formed with a slot 15 which is adapted to receive a screwdriver bit for effecting rotational adjustment of the pinion 13. With this arrangement the slot 15 is accessible by a screwdriver through the opening of the inlet 14.

The inlet 14 is externally screw-threaded for the screwing thereon of a ring nut 16 which secures the receptacle 1 to a wall of the clothes or dish-washing machine, part of which is shown in broken lines at M. Also, an internally threaded cap closure 17 may be fitted over the inlet 14.

In order to facilitate filling of the receptacle 1 with detergent liquid a spout 18 is snap-engaged in the inlet 14 and projects outwardly, the spout 18 being open at its top. The spout 18 may be removed from the inlet 14 for the purpose of introducing a screw driver through the opening of the inlet 14 when adjusting the volume of the metering chamber 2 as described previously.

It will be appreciated that other embodiments can be designed within the scope of the invention, all such embodiments having means for adjusting the volume of the metering chamber in a receptacle of an adjustable metering device which are operable from the outside through the opening of the liquid detergent inlet.

What is claimed is:

1. Liquid detergent metering device comprising a receptacle having a detergent inlet, a metering chamber within the receptacle, a discharge outlet communicating with the receptacle through the metering chamber, and volume-adjusting means associated with the metering chamber and effective to adjust the volume thereof, the volume-adjusting means including a movable wall member in the metering chamber and a rack and pinion cou- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 457,913 8/ 1891 Fowler 222---440 X 2,373,124 4/ 1945 Le Frank 222-440 X 2,959,341 11/1960 Noakes 222453 X 3,325,012 6/1967 Kryzer et al. 222-440 X ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner F. R. HANDKEN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 222-453, 504 

